1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of smartphone communications and in particular to securing smartphone communications using biometric locking systems to verify the identity of the recipient of a smartphone communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Biometrics have become readily available in current smartphones. Initial uses for biometrics (e.g., fingerprint, voice recognition, face recognition) are embodied in specialty third party applications. The use of biometrics to lock and unlock a smartphone are examples of biometric functions that may be built into the operating systems of various smartphones currently commercialized in the market.
Many different operating system-level smartphone functions, such as mail, text, and video communications may be improved if an operating system-level biometric was used for added security. For example, a user may wish to ensure that communications sent from their mobile device to another person are especially secure. Such communications involving financial information (e.g., with a bank requesting a transfer of funds between accounts), business trade secrets, health information, personal information, legal information, privileged information, and other types of confidential information. There is, however, no method or system currently available for providing a simple way to secure those communications.
There is, therefore, a need for securing smartphone communications using biometric locking systems that verify the identity of the intended recipient of a smartphone communication before that communication can be made accessible to be interpreted, read, viewed, or otherwise played or executed.